NARATHIWAT, Nov 3 — Schools in the three southern border provinces of Narahitwat, Yala and Pattani opened for the second semester of the current academic year today under intensified security measures.
Soldiers, police, administrators and defence volunteers have been mobilised to guard schools, their vicinities and routes between communities and schools to protect teachers, students and parents who arrived at their schools this morning.
In Narathiwat the special protection covers 369 schools in 13 districts. In Yala, local teachers said they felt secure and had more confidence in their educational services.
In Pattani, education inspector-general Adinant Pakbara said that the six local schools that were burned last month would reopen Wednesday. Villagers have already built temporary structures at the schools and their students were joining an academic competition in Sai Buri district, Mr Adinant said.
Kamol Rodklai, secretary-general of the Basic Education Commission, said improved curricula on history and citizenship subjects were implemented in this school term, emphasizing teaching on the qualifications of good citizens and loyalty to the main institutions of the country.
